An Outline History of the Twelve Apostles

The apostles of Christ were the foundation
stones of His church. In Revelation 21:14 we
are told that the twelve foundations of the
wall of the new Jerusalem will have in them
the names of the twelve apostles. It is
evident, therefore, that our Lord attaches
great impor­tance to these men.

As we study these
courageous first-century lives, and what
apostleship meant in the time of Christ, we
may expect to be aided in developing a
Spirit directed twentieth-century
discipleship

as Christ must have meant it
to be, along similar lines of vital
experience, responsibility, consecra­tion
and achievement.

The information
compiled herein utilizes the New Testament
accounts of these men, and the most
respected legends and traditions. We do not
mean to infer, thereby, that legend and
tradition constitute historical fact. We do
feel, however, that they do have value in
the study of the lives of these men who "...
turned the world upside down..."

ANDREW

Andrew was the brother
of Peter, and a son of Jonas. He lived in
Bethsaida and Capernaum and was a fisherman
before he was called by Jesus. Originally he
was a disciple of John the Baptist (Mark 1
:16-18). Andrew brought his brother, Peter,
to Jesus (John 1:40). He is the first to
have the title of Home and Foreign
Mis­sionary. He is claimed by three
countries as their Patron Saint—Russia,
Scotland and Greece. Many scholars say that
he preached in Scythia, Greece and Asia
Minor.

Andrew introduced
others to Jesus. Although circumstances
placed him in a position where it would have
been easy for him to have become jealous and
resentful, he was optimistic and well
content in second place. His main purpose in
life was to bring others to the Master.

According to tradition,
it was in Achaia, Greece, in the town of
Patra that An(lrew died a martyr. When
Governor Aepeas' wife was healed and
converted to the Christian faith, and
shortly after that the Governor's brother
became a Christian, Aepeas was enraged. He
arrested Andrew and condemned him to die on
the cross. Andrew, feeling unworthy to be
crucified on the same-shaped cross as his
Master, begged that his be different. So, he
was crucified on an X-shaped cross, which is
still called Saint Andrew's cross and which
is one of his apostolic symbols. A sym­bol
of two crossed fish has also been applied to
Andrew, because he was formerly a fisherman.

BARTHOLOMEW

Bartholomew Nathanael,
son of Talmai, lived in Cana of Galilee.
Tradition says he was a mis­sionary in
Armenia.

A number of scholars
believe that he was the only disciple who
came from royal blood, or noble birth. His
name means Son of Tolmai or Talmai (2 Sam.
3:3). Talmai was king of Geshur whose
daughter, Maacah, was the wife of David,
mother of Absalom.

This was not a first
name, however; it was his second name. His
first name probably was Na­tllanael, whom
Jesus called "An Israelite in­deed, in whom
there is no guile" (John 1:47).

The New Testament gives
us very little in­formation about him.
Nevertheless, we have clear information that
he was a great searcher of the Scripture and
a scholar in the Law and the Prophets. He
was a man of complete sincerity, a man
earnest in prayer, a man who made complete
surrender to the Carpenter of Nazareth, and
one of the Church's most adventurous
missionaries.

He is said to have
preached with Philip in Phrygia and
Hierapolis; also in Armenia. The Armenian
Church claims him as its founder and martyr.
However, tradition says that he preached in
India, and his death seems to have taken
place there. He died as a martyr for his
Lord. He was flayed alive with knives.

His apostolic symbol is
three parallel knives.

JAMES

James, the Elder,
Boanerges, son of Zebedee and Salome,
brother of John the Apostle; a fish­erman
who lived in Bethsaida, Capernaum and
Jerusalem. He preached in Jerusalem and
Judea and was beheaded by Herod, A.D. 44
(Acts 12: 1, 2). He was a member of the
Inner Circle, so called because they were
accorded special privi­leges. The New
Testament tells us very little about James.
His name never appears apart from that of
his brother, John. They were an in­separable
pair (Mark 1:19-20; Mat. 4:21; Luke 5:1-11).

He was a man of courage
and forgiveness—a man without jealousy,
living in the shadow of John, a man of
extraordinary faith. He was the first of the
twelve to become a martyr.

His symbol is three
shells, the sign of his pil­grimage by the
sea. s :,p

JAMES

James, the Lesser or
Younger, son of Alpheus, or Cleophas, and
Mary, lived in Galilee. He was the brother
of the Apostle Jude.

According to tradition he
wrote the Epistle of James, preached in
Palestine and Egypt and was crucified in
Egypt. James was one of the little known
disciples. Some scholars believe he was the
brother of Matthew, the tax collector. James
was a man of strong character and one of the
most fiery type. Tradition tells us that he
also died as a martyr and his body was sawed
in pieces. The saw became his apostolic
symbol.

JOHN

John Boanerges, son of
Zebedee and Salome, brother of James, the
Apostle. He was known as this Beloved
Disciple. A fisherman who lived in
Bethsaida, Capernaum and Jerusalem, he was a
member of the Inner Circle. He wrote the
Gospel of John, I John, II John, III John
and Revelation. He preached among the
churches of Asia Minor. Banished to the Isle
of Patmos, he was later freed and died a
natural death.

John was one of the
prominent Apostles. He is mentioned in many
places in the New Testament. He was a man of
action; he was very ambitious; and a man
with an explosive temper and an intolerant
heart. His second name was Boanerges, which
means Son of Thunder. He and his brother,
James, came from a more well-to-do family
than the rest of the Apostles. Since his
father had hired servants in his fishing
business (Mark 1:20) he may have felt
himself above the rest. He was close to
Peter. They were acting together in the
ministry. Peter, however, was always the
spokesman for the band.

John mellowed with time. At
the latter part of his life, he had
forgotten everything, including his ambition
and explosive temper, except his Lord's
command of love.

It is said that an attempt
was made on his life by giving him a chalice
of poison from which God spared him. He died
of natural causes.

A chalice with a snake in it
is his symbol.

JUDAS

Judas Iscariot, the
traitor, was the son of Simon who lived in
Kerioth of Judah. He betrayed Jesus for
thirty pieces of silver and afterwards
hanged himself (Mat. 26:14, 16).

Judas, the man who
became the traitor, is the supreme enigma of
the New Testament because it is so hard to
see how anyone who was so close to Jesus,
who saw so many miracles and heard so much
of the Master's teaching could ever betray
him into the hands of his enemies.

His name appears in three
lists of the 12 Apostles (Mat. 10:4; Mark
3:19; Luke 6:19). It is said that Judas came
from Judah near Jericho. He was a Judean and
the rest of the disciples were Galileans. He
was the treasurer of the band and among the
outspoken leaders.

It is said that Judas
was a violent Jewish Nationalist who had
followed Jesus in hope that through Him his
nationalistic flame and dreams might be
realized. No one can deny that Judas was a
covetous man and at times he may have used
his position as treasurer of the band to
pilfer from the common purse.

There is no certain
reason as to why Judas betrayed his master;
but it is not his betrayal that put Jesus on
the cross—it was our sins.

His apostolic symbol is
a hangman's noose or a money purse with
pieces of silver falling fromit.

JUDE

Jude, Thaddeus, or
Lebbeus, son of Alpheus or Cleophas and
Mary. He was a brother of James the Younger.
He was one of the very little-known Apostles
and lived in Galilee. Tradition says he
preached in Assyria and Persiaanddied a martyr in Persia.

Jerome called Jude "Trinomious"
whichmeans "a man with three names."
In Mark 3:18 he is called Thaddeus. In
Matthew 10:3 he is called Lebbeus. His
surname was Thaddeus. In Luke 6:16 and Acts
1:13 he is called. Judas thebrother
of James. Judas Thaddeus also was called
Judas the Zealot.

By character he was an
intense and violentNationalist with
the dream of world power and domination by
the Chosen People. In the New Testament
records (John 14:22-23) he asked Jesus at
the Last Supper, "Lord, how is it
that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and
not untothe world?" Judas Thaddeus
was interested in making Christ known to the
world. Not as a suffering Saviour, however,
but as ruling King. We can see plainly from
the answer Jesus gavehim, that the
way of power can never be substituted for
the way of love.

It is said that Jude
went to preach the gospel in Edessa near the
Euphrates River. There he healed many and
many believed in the name of the Master.
Jude went from there to preach the Gospel in
other places. He was killed with arrows at
Ararat. The chosen symbol for him is the
ship because he was a missionary thought to
be a fisherman.

MATTHEW

Matthew, or Levi, son of
Alpheus, lived in Capernaum. He was a
publican or tact collector. He wrote the
Gospel that bears his name. He died a martyr
in Ethiopia.

The call of Matthew to
the apostolic band is mentioned in Mark
2:14, Mat. 9:9; and Luke 5 :27-28. From
these passages, we learn that Matthew also
was called Levi. It was a common custom in
the Middle East at the time of Christ for
men to have two names. Matthew's name mean
"a gift of God." The name Levi could have
been given to him by Jesus. It is likely
that James the Lesser, who was one of the
twelve Apostles, was Matthew's brother, also
the son of Alpheus. Although we know little
about Mat­thew personally, the outstanding
fact about him is that he was a tax
collector. The King James Version calls him
a publican, which in Latin is Publicanus,
meaning engaged in public service, a man
who handled public money, or a tax gatherer.

Of all the nations in
the world, the Jews were the most vigorous
haters of tax gatherers. To the devout Jew,
God was the only one to whom it was right to
pay tribute in taxes. To pay it to anyone
else was to infringe on the rights of God.
The tax collectors were hated not on
religious grounds only but because most of
them were no­toriously unjust.

In the minds of many
honest, Jewish men, these tax collectors
were regarded as criminals. In New Testament
times they were classified with harlots,
Gentiles and sinners (Mat. 18:17, Mat.
21:31, 33; Mat. 9:10, Mark 2:15, 16; Luke
5:30). Tax collectors had been known to
assess duty payable at impossible sums and
then offer to lend the money to travelers at
a high rate of interest. Such was Matthew.
Yet, Jesus chose a man all men hated and
made him one of His men. It took Jesus
Christ to see the potential in the tax
collector of Capernaum.

Matthew was unlike most
of the other Apostles, who were all
fishermen. He could use a pen, and by his
pen he became the first man to present to
the world, in the Hebrew language, an
account of the teachings of Jesus. It is
clearly impossible to estimate the debt that
Chris­tianity owes to this despised tax
gatherer. The average man would have thought
it impossible to reform Matthew, but to God
all things are pos­sible. Matthew became the
first man to write down the teachings of
Jesus. He was a missionary of the Gospel,
who laid down his life for the faith of his
Master. The apostolic symbol of Matthew is
three money bags which remind us that he was
a tax collector before Jesus called him.

PETER

Simon Peter, son of
Jonas, was a fisherman who lived in
Bethsaida and Capernaum. He did evangelistic
and missionary work among the Jews, going as
far as Babylon. Tradition says he was
crucified, head downward, in Rome. Some
scholars ascribe I and II Peter to him. He
was a member of the Inner Circle.

In every apostolic
list, the name Peter is men­tioned first.
However, Peter had other names. At the time
of Christ, the common language was Greek and
the family language was Hebrew. So, his
Greek name was Simon (Mark 1:16; John 1: 40,
4 1) . His Hebrew name was Cephas ( I Cor.
1:12; 3:22; 9:5 and Gal. 2:9). The Greek
meaning of Simon is rock. The Arabic meaning
of Cephas is also rock.

By trade, Peter was a
fisherman. He was a married man (I Cor. 9:5)
and his home was Capernaum. Jesus probably
made His head­quarters there when He visited
Capernaum. Peter was also a Galilean and was
typical of many of the other disciples. As
Josephus described the Galileans, "they were
ever fond of innovation and by nature
disposed to change and delighted in
sedition. They were ever ready to follow the
leader and to begin an insurrection. They
were quick in temper and given to quarreling
and they were very chivalrous men." The
Talmud says this of the Galileans, "They
were more anxious for honor than for gain,
quick-tempered, impul­sive, emotional,
easily aroused by an appeal to adventure,
loyal to the end." Peter was a typical
Galilean.

Among the twelve,
Peter was the leader. He stands out as a
spokesman for all the Apostles. It is he who
asked the meaning of the difficult say­ing
(Mat. 15:15). It is he who asked how often
he must forgive. It is he who inquired about
the reward for all of those who follow
Jesus. It is he who first confessed Jesus
and declared Him as the Son of the Living
God. It is he who was at the Mount of
Transfiguration. It is he who saw Jairus'
daughter raised to life. Yet, it is he who
denied Christ before a maiden. He was an
Apostle and a missionary who laid down his
life for his Lord. It is true, Peter had
many faults, but he had always the saving
grace of the loving heart. No matter how
many times he had fallen and failed, he
always recovered his courage and integrity.

Peter was martyred on
the cross. Peter re­quested that he might be
crucified head down­ward for he was not
worthy to die as his Lord had died. His
apostolic symbol is a cross upside down with
crossed keys. The keys represent Peter as
holder of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

PHILIP

Tradition says that
Philip preached in Phrygia and died a martyr
at Hierapolis. Philip came from Bethsaida,
the town from which Peter and An­drew came
(John 1:44). The likelihood is that he, too,
was a fisherman. Although the first three
Gospels record his name (Mat. 10:3; Mark 3:
18; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13), it is in the
Gospel of John that Philip becomes a living
personality.

Scholars disagree on
Philip. In Acts 6:5, we have Philip as one
of the seven ordained deacons. Some say this
is a different Philip. Some believe this is
the Apostle. If this is the same Philip,
then his personality came much more to life
because he had a successful campaign in
Samaria. He led the Ethiopian eunuch to
Christ (Acts 8:26). He also stayed with Paul
in Caesarea (Acts 21:8) and was one of the
major figures in the mis­sionary enterprise
of the early church.

The Gospel of John
shows Philip as one of the first of many to
whom Jesus addressed the words, "Follow Me."
When Philip met Christ, he immediately
discovered Nathanael and told him that "we
have found him, of whom Moses . . . and the
prophets, did write." Nathanael was
skeptical. Philip did not argue with him; he
sim­ply answered, "Come and see." This story
tells us two important things about Philip.
First, it shows his right approach to the
skeptic and his simple faith in Christ.
Second, it shows that he had a missionary
instinct.

Philip was a man with a
warm heart and a pessimistic head. He was
one who would very much like to do something
for others, but who did not see how it could
be done. Yet, this simple Galilean gave all
he had. In return God used him. It is said
that he died by hanging. While he was dying,
he requested that his body be wrapped not in
linen but in papyrus for he was not worthy
that even his dead body should be treated as
the body of Jesus had been treated. The
symbol of Philip is a basket, because of his
part in the feed­ing of the five thousand.
It is he that stressed the cross as a sign
of Christianity and victory.

SIMON

Simon, the Zealot, one
of the little-known fol­lowers called the
Canaanite or Zelotes, lived in Galilee.
Tradition says he was crucified.

In two places in the
King James Version he is called a Canaanite
(Mat. 10:4; Mark 3:18). However in the other
two places, he is called Simon Zelotes (Luke
6: 15; Acts 1:13).

The New Testament gives
us practically noth­ing on him personally
except that it says he was a Zealot. The
Zealots were fanatical Jewish Na­tionalists
who had heroic disregard for the suf­fering
involved and the struggle for what they
regarded as the purity of their faith. The
Zealots were crazed with hatred for the
Romans. It was this hate for Rome that
destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Josephus
says the Zealots were reck­less persons
zealous in good practices and ex­travagant
and reckless in the worst actions.

From this background,
we see that Simon was a fanatical
Nationalist, a man devoted to the Law, a man
with bitter hatred for anyone who dared to
compromise with Rome. Yet, Simon clearly
emerged as a man of faith. He abandoned all
his hatred for the faith that he showed
toward his Master and the love that he was
willing to share with the rest of the
disciples and especially Matthew, the Roman
tax collector.

Simon, the Zealot, the
man who once would have killed in loyalty to
Israel, became the man who saw that God will
have no forced service. Tradition says he
died as a martyr. His apostolic symbol is a
fish lying on a Bible, which indicates he
was a former fisherman who became a fisher
of men through preaching.

THOMAS

Thomas Didymus lived in
Galilee. Tradition says he labored in
Parthia, Persia, and India, suf­fering
martyrdom near Madras, at Mt. St. Thomas,
India.

Thomas was his Hebrew
name and Didyrnus was his Greek name. At
times he was called Judas. Matthew, Mark and
Luke tell us nothing about Thomas except his
name. However, John defines him more clearly
in his Gospel. Thomas appeared in the
raising of Lazarus (John 11:1­16), in the
Upper Room (John 14:1-6) where he wanted to
know how to know the way where Jesus was
going. In John 20:25, we see him saying
unless he sees the nail prints in Jesus'
hand and the gash of the spear in His side
he will not believe. That's why Thomas
became knownas Doubting Thomas.

Thomas became certain
by doubting. By na­ture, he was a pessimist.
He was a bewildered man. Yet, he was a man
of courage. He was a man who could not
believe until he had seen. He was a man of
devotion and of faith. When Jesus rose, he
came back and invited Thomasto put
his finger in the nail prints in his hands
and in his side. Here, we see Thomas making
the greatest confession of faith, "My Lord
and my God." Thomas' doubts were transformed
into faith.

Thomas was always like
a little child. His first reaction was not
to do what he was told to do and not to
believe what he was asked to believe. The
good news to him was always too good to be
true. By this very fact Thomas' faith became
great, intense and convincing. It is said
that he was commissioned to build a palace
for the king of India, and he was killed
with a spear as a martyr for his Lord. His
symbol is a group of spears, stones and
arrows.